There are two types of elections in Andorra: parliamentary elections and local elections. The 28 members of the

General Council of the Valleys The General Council ( ca, Consell General d'Andorra, ) is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. It is sometimes referred to as the General Council of the Valleys (Catalan: ''Consell General de les Valls'') because it was the historical name ...

(''Consell General de les Valls'') are elected in parliamentary elections for a maximum term of four years. In the local elections, the council members of the seven

parishes of Andorra Andorra consists of seven communities known as parishes ( ca, parròquies, singularparròquia). Until relatively recently, it had only six parishes; the seventh, Escaldes-Engordany, was created in 1978. Overview Andorra la Vella is the capital ...

are elected for a four-year term. Elections in

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

are regulated since the promulgation of the Nova Reforma in 1867.

Election system

The current electoral law was approved in 2014 and replaces the 1993 law. Only people with Andorran nationality and over 18 years old are eligible to vote and to become a candidate.

Parliamentary elections

All 28 seats of the

General Council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...

are elected at the same time. Half of the seats are elected in two-member constituencies based on the seven parishes, with a plurality party block voting method. The remaining 14 are elected in a single nationwide constituency by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

with

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...

s. Seats are allocated using the

largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various h ...

with

Hare quota The Hare quota (also known as the simple quota) is a formula used under some forms of proportional representation. In these voting systems the quota is the number of votes that guarantees a candidate, or a party in some cases, captures a seat. Th ...

. Voters have two votes: one for the parish seats, and the other for the PR. Following the election, the Head of Government (Prime Minister) and the Speaker are elected indirectly by the members of the parliament.

Local elections

The municipal councils (''consells comunals''), which is the legislature of the parish, must have 10, 12, 14 or 16 seats. The number of seats is determined by the municipal council. The winning party takes one half of the seats. The other half of the seats are allocated with

using the

, with

(including the winning party). Lists are closed. With this method, the largest party secures an

absolute majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

. Following the election, the ''cònsol major'' (mayor) and ''cònsol menor'' (deputy mayor) are elected in each parish indirectly by the municipal councillors.

Latest elections

History and past elections

In 1866, a social revolution ended with the promulgation of the New Reform (''Nova Reforma'') by the

Co-princes of Andorra The co-princes of Andorra are jointly the heads of state ( ca, cap d'estat) of the Principality of Andorra, a landlocked microstate lying in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Founded in 1278 by means of a treaty between the Bishop of Urge ...

. This decree changed the way the parliament and local councils were elected. Furthermore, a vote per home was granted. The introduced election system was a two-round

plurality-at-large Plurality block voting, also known as plurality-at-large voting, block vote or block voting (BV) is a non- proportional voting system for electing representatives in multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of sea ...

voting system. This system remained until the approval of the new Constitution and Electoral Law in 1993. In 1933,

universal male suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slog ...

was introduced.

Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

was introduced in 1970. From 1867 until 1979, parliamentary and local elections were held every two years, but only one half of the seats were up for election. Since

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, parliamentary elections are held every four years and all members are up for election simultaneously. Same for local elections since

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. In

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, a multi-option referendum was held in order to change the

election system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

. Finally, no option had a majority, and the traditional system remained. An election law was made in 1987, and it included this system. In 1993, with the adoption of the new

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, Andorra ceased to be a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

country and a new electoral law was made. Parties were also legalised by then. This law combined the proportional and majority systems. The current law is a revision of the 1993 law made in 2014, and the system is the same.

Election results 1993–2019

External links

Elections in AndorraAdam Carr's Election Archive
{{Andorra topics